The Rose and the Striker
by Judgment Waltz
Summary: Huntsmen, people who are tasked with protecting the innocent and slaying the evils who dare to destroy them. Adepts, people born with unnatural powers being discriminated and hunted because of their volatile nature. An additional conflict arises, moving the chosen players between the two worlds, and Rose and Striker will be up against those beyond the boundaries of space and time.


**Ruby: The following is a fan-created story! RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, and Azure Striker Gunvolt is owned by Inti Creates. Support the official releases... wait, maybe you can also support us by buying us some snacks! Oh, can we get a full animation series on Gunvolt, too? That pilot was pretty cool!**

 **Gunvolt: The story will start off with certain spoilers for the first game in the Azure Striker Gunvolt series being revealed, and will continue on. You have been advised... I guess. You're paying attention, right?**

 **Ruby: What are you talking about, GV? I always am! I... oh, you meant the readers! Right, right...**

* * *

She was the rosy reaper, the huntress apprentice who would slay monsters that dwell on humanity's fears... and devoured freshly-baked cookies in her spare time.

He was the mercenary, a human granted an exceptionally powerful ability to smite foes preying on the innocent... and preferred listening to music from time to time.

As they walked to a vast field, weapons drawn and ready to be used, in front of the two were their targets, creatures who would kill to satiate their hunger for all human thoughts of negativity. The kind of these creatures looked like black werewolves—they had wolf-like qualities and sometimes stood on their hind legs. They were enemies—a natural force meant to be destroyed for the greater good—that the two humans were more than used to.

Their task, as usual, was to destroy said natural force.

Thus, red and blue walked hand in hand under the night sky, beginning their mission.

The girl in red was the one to reach them first, her extravagant speed giving her the chance to strike first. Her first strike was a blink-and-miss, her weapon's blade, the blade of a scythe, slicing the monster's head clean and silencing it completely. The fallen creature's torso landed behind with an audible thud, followed by its head rolling. Not letting up, the girl stepped around to reach the next one, the scythe cleanly detaching the second wolf monster's arm and leg, leaving the monster to fall and perish from its injuries, then spun around to slice one more in half by the waist.

Her next set of attacks were not of the slicing variety. Aiming the pole of the weapon at various intended directions, each trigger she pulled ejected strong rounds through the limbs of her opponents, bits and pieces of them scattering to the wind. None of the feral monsters were able to safely approach closer without losing their parts. The high volume of each shot blasted through the surrounding ears, yet for her, she was more than used to it.

The boy in blue caught up to them, not as quickly, but with the best agility expected from him. Lightning traced his steps as he approached. With a gun in hand, he aimed accurately to the living forms of the wolves, the unique shots attaching to them instead of outright piercing them. However, this limited form of damage wouldn't slow them down, as proven by one wolf trying to crush the boy with a downward swing. A well-timed sidestep made it clear he could be agile enough to avoid them. Another monster tried a horizontal swipe; it was dodged by an equally-precise high jump.

In the air, electricity caressed his right hand for a moment, and he aimed it towards the pack. Lightning burst forth from his hand and split evenly, targeting those he marked with his darts and overpowering them with the surge of debilitating lightning. One by one, the wolves fell down as corpses... leaving one standing behind. Not letting up as he landed, he quickly rushed to meet the lone wolf, the dagger in his left aiming right below the neck and ripping it out harshly.

He watched the monster fall down as well, withering into petals like the others.

"Hey, Ruby," he called out to his nearby partner in the middle of the field, "don't you think this is already starting to bring back some memories?"

The girl in red and black only made a quick motion of her metallic scythe to slice the head of a feral beast behind her, then planted the scythe forward to both pin and break the neck of another beast, and fire away a shot to destroy one, two more wolf-like creatures from a distance, all the monsters disintegrating from the wounds. Pulling the weapon back to her, she leaped from the side to join up with her current partner.

"Wasn't that six months ago?" She cheerfully quipped as he steadied his dagger. "Besides, you weren't having fun when the Grimm suddenly jumped at you!"

Before he could respond, the teen in blue spun a one-eighty and drove the glowing dagger to the neck of the initially-unsuspected monster, the weapon sending a surge of electricity to its being. Plucking it back and letting the corpse wither away, he raised his handgun to aim and shoot another enemy. This time, after the shots landed, he lifted his right arm. Currents of lightning from his palm rushed to tear apart the monster, violently breaking it apart.

Six months. It's not like he lost his touch with everything that happened in that time frame, considering what this world was.

"Yeah, that still left a lot to be desired," he said, finding a lull in combat for the time being. "But honestly, with you guys managing to find us right away, I learned that I couldn't have asked for better reception around here."

"Really?" She giggled, accepting his vague thanks. "I mean, when we first met, I thought you'd be hard to be friends with, GV. You seemed like a quiet and business-like guy, I figured you'd be less impressed with me."

He gave an amused grunt. "Well, your dad and uncle were pretty quick telling me to relax, I guess. Plus, you're a little more bearable to talk with than Yang."

She smiled as she felt pity for her sister. "Sorry about that. She was, um, more eager than me to see new faces like you guys."

"Still is. My point is, I don't think me and Joule would be living any better if you weren't around to keep us company. Finding ourselves stranded on land we don't know about can give more than a headache."

He sounded rather sentimental and sincere, and she, for all her shyness to understand people, tried to keep his spirits high.

"I told you it's fine, GV. We just did what anyone would do if we found you guys like that." She paused as she looked around, still searching for any enemy nearby. Finding the atmosphere to be quiet as well, she glanced back at him and continued, "Plus, Uncle Qrow's already thankful you got to help him out since you settled in. Doesn't that mean you don't owe us anything?"

He blinked, looking away for a bit while still seemingly troubled. "I don't know," he admitted. "I still think I owe you for saving us."

A sigh she had trouble keeping in managed to escape her lips. "It's been six months and you still think like that, GV. If you keep this up, I'm gonna tell Joule you've been moping again."

He smiled despite her threat, even if she was serious enough to go through with it. "Alright, alright. Sorry. I've been reminiscing lately about how all this started, that's all."

"Six months does that to you?" She playfully asked.

"Well, we weren't in a better position before that." He shrugged. "I'd say landing here in Patch helped us get a more quieter life."

Her silver eyes showed the first signs of worry as she regarded him and his statement. She still knew how none of them ever wanted to talk much about their past. The most any of her family could get was a famous group holding a facade of heroism attempting to restrain and torture them because of their powers. But, as she noticed, was he really interested in telling her such a past?

"Hey, um, GV." He looked down to see his pint-sized partner, who put her hands behind her waist as she awkwardly tried to tell him. "I know how you, well, you and Joule don't like talking about your past, and I can tell it kind of hurts you if you try to tell us, and you think we'd probably feel bad, and..." She raised her hands in front of her in an innocent gesture. "Wh-what I mean is, it's fine! It's fine if you still have to keep things a secret! I mean, we waited for six months, we can probably wait for six... no, sixty more!"

He seemed piqued at Ruby's earnest kindness. She had to admit, it was a little rare to see him look this touched.

But before any of them could delve into his tale further, a fear-inducing roar resounded through the verdant forest they were fighting in. Another wave of Beowolves poured from an opening in the forest, all of them having their blood-colored eyes set on the two humans.

He deeply sighed.

"Can I get back to you on that?"

She smiled awkwardly.

"Sure thing, GV!"

Both Rose and Striker raced onward, ready to meet with their next batch of Grimm targets...

 **~{Prologue: Indigo Destiny - "Connection"}~**

* * *

" _Damn it! There's still more of them coming!"_

 _Gunvolt kept Joule on his arms at all times—he didn't trust the darkened woods enough to leave Joule away for even a few meters, not anymore. The monsters that kept chasing them still showed no signs of slowing down, as expected of such feral creatures, even if they were of a wildly different species. As his mind raced, he thought about how such creatures gained the appearance of crawling death—black fur coats and the exoskeleton of white and red—if only because they weren't a species even Asimov or Moniqa would probably know about._

 _An Adept with a Septima of creating or summoning crazed and deadly creatures?_

 _Maybe. It wouldn't be the first of its kind, to be honest._

 _The moment he found himself and Joule surrounded by the monsters, he knew his options were severely limited. QUILL wasn't responding to any of his calls, damned signal problems, Joule would be at the mercy of the enemy if he left her alone for even five seconds, and he had a feeling there were still more of them to come. This seemed like a forest that stretched on forever, after all._

 _Naturally, he prioritized safety over defeat of the enemy._

 _It amounted to run like hell._

 _A retreat wasn't all that new to him; missions that were compromised by bad luck or formidably-undefeated enemies were the reasons why running was more tactical, pride be damned. There was an issue with this kind of retreat, however. If he had no operator to work with, and a lack of knowledge in his current location, then where, exactly, could he retreat to? Not in another area filled with forests and unknown monsters, he seriously hoped._

 _And there was yet another recurring problem. He had to twist and turn to maneuver around the thick trees and the mutant wolves themselves. There were too many close calls they went through with the sweeping claws and quick tackles. If he had anything to be thankful for, it was his Septimal-powered body that stopped him from running out of breath so soon. But it was finite. His lack of usage in his powers was because of Joule. He couldn't leave her on one spot and let the enemy have more chances of getting close to her._

 _He found a large clearing not too long, and it at least provided him a more open space to maneuver around. However, the same could be said for his enemies, for they found the trees no longer a hindrance to them. At this rate, even if he found an advantage, he had to make sure it wasn't filled with risks..._

" _GV," the light purple-haired girl whispered in fear, clinging tightly onto her savior, "I-I don't think we'll make it out of this by running..."_

" _You know I can't stand still for a moment, Joule," he muttered back, trying to pick up speed. "The moment we stop, they'll catch up to us."_

" _I know... but we need a better plan..."_

 _Coming up with one was easier said than done, he thought to himself. If she was in a safer place to hide, he wouldn't need to run to the end of the land if he could fight them without her in danger. But this was becoming..._

 _He stopped running._

 _Not because they were safe, that would have been nice, but it seemed his luck was finally running out. In front of him were another batch of black-furred bipedal wolves, with all of them showing a decision to approach them out of wild instinct. More enemies in front of them. Just what he needed. The other wolves chasing from behind slowed to meet them, more than ready to get the jump on their prey, while the ones in front quickly approached closer without any hesitation._

 _Surrounded. There were no more avenues to escape to._

 _And unfortunately for Joule, she was looking._

 _The black beasts making their footsteps on the common ground to them._

 _The rumbling, growling sounds not unheard of for dangerous predators._

 _The crimson, blood-lusting eyes that kept on speaking of their approaching death._

 _She held him tighter than ever._

" _GV...!"_

 _A loud, fear-striking howl sounded through the darkened night._

 _Right after that, a gunshot rang out._

* * *

Ruby Rose was exceptionally talented in aiming for shots as she was in slicing things through.

So naturally, bringing Grimm down with direct headshots was just as satisfyingly easy as cake. Easy as eating it. But she preferred more than just simple headshots each round. In showing off more than that, she twirled the head of Crescent Rose all around, its rifle barrel aimed at literally everywhere, yet everywhere she wanted it to be. The first shot fired from the swirling, mechanical scythe, and it landed squarely below the torso of the Beowolf. The second and third shots landed in the middle of another torso and its neck. The spinning weapon fired a forth, and it took out another one's head this time.

She stopped spinning her weapon around by keeping it locked to the neck of another Beowolf that tried to sneak behind her. This time, the fifth shot she fired not only allowed the weapon's recoil to off the head with more force put in the scythe, but the projectile managed to land on another neck, dropping it dead. Turning around again, she spun Crescent Rose horizontally to sever through another Beowolf by the waist. One more twirl of the weapon, and she brought down another Beowolf with a diagonal slice from the waist to its neck.

Artistically, their fallen bodies disintegrated to the world like scattered rose petals. Probably poetic for someone like her, who really loved the actual roses themselves. And though she might never figure out why it was a rule for dead Grimm to vanish into blood petals, it still made for a scene that made her look cool... well there was no harm in presenting herself as one, right? Or so she said to herself...

Still, the added bonus of this was Gunvolt and Joule's reaction with them first witnessing the Grimm bodies fade to red petals, along with her standing among their disintegrating corpses, not needing to look back at her dead targets for a moment. Ruby was sure it was the one time she ever saw Gunvolt looked that surprised, or impressed, maybe a mixture of both. It was a good thing they were able to accept her without a second thought for saving them, when she first responded at least. She didn't know anyone who wouldn't, and preferred if that never came up. And since then, being friends from that point on was the start.

Speaking of...

She looked back to her blue-draped partner, who had as much trouble as her in dealing with the Grimm—that is to say, none. His instincts all over, he leaped behind to jump over a Beowolf's wide arm swipe, and landed on its back and plunged the electrically-charged dagger through the nape. The blue lightning surged through the Grimm's body before it quickly dropped, no longer moving aside from the twitching of the electricity it took. He pulled Ion back from its neck, switching weapons to take aim with the Naga-loaded gun at another group of fast-moving Beowolves.

His reading set to his accuracy, he fired away. The first few shots drove through the air, one, two, three... four tag darts landed on each target out of five—just about enough. His left hand conjured crackling blue electricity before it surged outward, all four traces of lightning reaching out to each target afflicted by the tag shots earlier. Lightning met the Grimm, and soon enough, all four convulsed from the electrical pain they received while they roared out of distress. The fifth one, the only one that managed to avoid a tag dart, only slowed down for a moment in anticipation of the attack he made, before rushing in once again to meet with his—

Ion sank into its torso, the thrown, long dagger plunging deep enough to stop the Beowolf in its track before Gunvolt rushed forward, electricity still bursting out of him. His left hand, still sparking blue lightning, came in contact with the dagger, and quickly poured out electrical pain into its body, the monster roaring out like its fallen brethren shortly before it joined them in death.

Ruby smirked. Even when not intending to, Gunvolt could be a show-off as much as she could, too.

He turned back to her again, the boy with the braided-ponytail giving off a sound of exhaustion. Was he already tired? Then again, they had been at this for the past half-hour...

"I still miss my time when I was just a mercenary back home," he said, shaking his head. "QUILL's work didn't always involve a field extermination in one spot. I'd more or less travel with them to other places to get the work done. The rare sights I could see were worth it."

Ruby blinked curiously. That was the first time he ever mentioned his past group by name. She doubted he'd still talk about it yet, so she focused on something else.

"Y'know, I never thought of you as a mercenary before," her thoughts came up. "Not that I didn't know what you were capable of, but you seemed... I dunno, too serious for a fifteen-year-old? No offense, of course! I just... you know."

He smiled a little when she trailed off, though more because she wasn't wrong.

"Things were hectic back in the day for me," he then decided to say. "I wasn't a freelance mercenary at first; I used to be part of a liberation group, you could say. That was about a year ago, I guess."

That piece of information only introduced more questions to the scythe master. But this also led to Gunvolt frowning when he caught himself trying to say. She had noticed, however, that he seemed less annoyed than he should be. More like... contemplating about something?

"You know, Ruby," he began again, trying to stifle a sigh, "it seems like after six months of getting to know you... and not just you, even your sister, your father, your uncle, if he ever shows up... I've been finding myself wanting to talk to you about it more and more. Maybe I'm coming to terms with sharing our past, or my past at least, to all of you. You guys do mean a lot to me."

He was getting back to their earlier conversation. That made sense, Ruby mused, but she was starting to feel uncomfortable that he was doing it now of all times. In fact, wasn't he feeling uneasy, too?

"Didn't I just say we would be okay if you didn't tell us about it?" She inquired a little accusingly. "We're not forcing you to tell us about it, GV."

"Yes, you did say that," he responded, running a hand through his blond hair, "you even said exactly that when we first met, and Joule and I were more than grateful for it—we needed time to adjust to this world and all. But at that point, I also said that I'll someday tell you all about it. And you know what? Since most of your family isn't going around elsewhere this evening, maybe now's a better time than later."

That was... Ruby didn't know if she was supposed to feel astonished or nervous or... what. He really was planning to tell them all about his life, what most of his world was like, whatever he was doing for a living. He was placing all of his trust on them from now on, a farther distance he made compared to when they met. It was appealing to her in such a strange way that Ruby was still at a loss of words for the moment. Until...

"That," she swallowed before trying again, "that sounds good, GV—"

Another howl resounded in the field. Another wave of Beowolves came pouring in from a nearby thickset of trees.

This time, Gunvolt couldn't help but sigh.

"After this, I'll tell you everything. And then..."

"And then?" She jokingly pressed despite herself.

"I'm gonna get Merak the next time we go out hunting. That way we won't get interrupted often."

* * *

 _The carnage in front of them was as awe-inspiring as it was surreal._

 _It first started with the sound of a gunshot, and one of those mutant wolves in front of them just blew apart. By the heavy sound it made and the force applied, he could only guess it belonged to a high-caliber rifle. He was eventually proven right when he looked to the direction of the gunshot's firing spot. There it was, a person hiding beneath a crimson cloak, probably around Joule's size, with what appeared to be a lengthy rifle planted firmly on the ground._

' _Rifle' was just another way to describe it. He saw the silver blade of a scythe sticking out of it, supporting its front weight by being planted. It was... an intriguing design, even if it showed the sheer impracticability of it all, but it was more surprising to know it still worked. The one in the cloak just resumed firing with their weapon, knocking down the surrounding creatures he had trouble keeping Joule safe from by blowing new holes in them or shattering their limbs. One by one, their bodies littered the ground, for some reason not bleeding to death, but their wounds opening up to scatter red rose-like petals._

 _And then the person took hold of the weapon again and dropped their cloak, and she changed tactics._

 _He had a faint glimpse of her before she turned herself into a red and black blur. Said blur moved on ahead to take care of the remaining enemies, starting by chopping two limbs from an approaching wolf, then intercepting the next by separating the body from the waist, and landing another slice to the next wolf's neck, before managing a chain of flying body parts in the air. He was sure this was being done by the scythe blade of the weapon, being the only sharp part capable of severing body parts, along with seeing the traces of white rushing through their bodies with such speed._

 _But it was not just the scythe doing the work. Every once in a while she would halt her movement for a second, aiming the weapon's pole to the frames of some before sounds of strong gunfire rang out, the projectiles leaving behind either headless corpses or fatally open wounds. Ah, the rifle was indeed part of the strange weapon as well, he thought. It made sense, considering the first few shots fired before she picked up the pace. To think such a weapon could be crafted so functionally perfect, and used skillfully on the hands of someone who was capable to disregard her size._

 _It was why they found themselves in awe. A girl who was capable of reducing the numbers of the creatures to a scant amount, with barely a minute passing by. A girl who was more than ready to take control of the situation without feeling the hesitation of bloodshed... or at least what came close to it. These monsters revealed themselves to be the kinds of nightmares, monsters without normal blood, likely making them more frightening. And yet, none of them did anything... they were able to do nothing to stop her assault on them. The girl in red and black made a point that there was no victory for the stubborn monsters in the area, and she proved it by slaughtering them without second thoughts occurring to her._

 _And finally, the barrage came to a halt. The bodies that littered the grassy ground around them were still disintegrating into rose petals. None of the fading corpses were likely to get up again, not after she showed her superiority in skills and prowess. And speaking of her..._

 _When they finally saw her without her being a blurry mess—standing a few meters away from them with her arms stretching to the raised weapon behind her like a pose—they were able to make out the details. He was right when she appeared feminine; the lack of masculinity on her face, along with her combat skirt of a kind, made it close to an easy guess that he still needed confirmation on. He did come in contact with someone who made his... her... their gender an illusion as well, but then again, that only applied to that particular person. As for the girl, they could tell she had no signs of wear or tear on her. Not a single blood of her dropped. Her entire dress wasn't even damaged by the enemies, almost as if she never went into battle in the first place. And when they looked at her face one time, they found silver eyes staring deep into their souls with her face kept expressionless._

 _And it was those eyes that kept them more aware of what she was possibly capable of. She saved them, but what was she going to do next? A warning to leave and never return to her area again? She had the strength to prove it. But as they thought about her next decision..._

 _...her expression cracked, and she greeted them with an awkward smile._

" _Um, hi. Are you two alright? I-I mean, you look okay, and that's good, I guess?"_

 _It was then, Gunvolt decided, that he would never buy those supernatural books that featured reapers for Joule, ever again._

* * *

Gunvolt sighed again, out of relief and boredom, as he finally saw the last (hopefully, he mused) of the Beowolves stay down. Ruby giggled as she took in his annoyed look, amusing as it was, and walked up next to him, stuffing Crescent Rose away.

"You look like you need a break from all the action lately."

"I look like I need something better to do," he responded, looking back to her. "The only Grimm around here are Beowolves... and a population of one Ursa. Unless I miscounted the Ursa."

"I can't really blame you if you haven't found a lot of Ursa lately," she stated, idly kicking a rock away. "You've been in this for some time, you probably took all the Beowolves and left the small amount of Ursa for the others."

"Guess that means I'm in need of a vacation," he hummed mindfully, "or maybe I'll just spend more time making accessories with Joule over this."

"Really? Not even gonna look into working with your weapons for a bit? See how Ion holds up if we give her a few add-ons?"

"I don't think any of my weapons need... you're still calling my weapon a 'her'?"

Ruby's response was to giggle at his incredulous tone. "It's been six months, GV, we've been calling Ion a 'her' since forever! Besides, that's not any different compared to having your guns being named."

Gunvolt almost gave another sigh, but he forced it back in. "That's not... no, never mind." It was QUILL who came up with them, he wanted to point out, but he knew better than to drag this bit on. "My weapons don't need customization right now. If it did, you already would have been the first person to talk to for tips."

"Boooriiing." She made an adorable pout before shrugging. "Fine. If I look at it another way, it just means you're already satisfied with Ion for now."

He stared back at her skeptically. "A gun and a knife both make for a good combination already, along with my power. What more do you want?"

In turn, she smiled cheekily. "Nothing wrong with being creative, GV!"

Truly, Ruby's level of creativity could outnumber the stars themselves if she put her heart into it. Gunvolt gave a small laugh at her excitement before finally deciding to retire. Ruby followed along, not yet drawn out from the day's events, and more than willing to make the most of tonight.

And tonight, he would finally tell them. The wrongs of his world. The rights he found. How he lived his life as the Azure Striker. How he found solace being with the Muse. How all that happened before meeting the Red Rose.

As the sky eased into darkness, both the Rose and the Striker walked away from the quiet field.

* * *

The broken moon floated high in the night sky, an effect that showed some kind of artistic beauty for people to look at.

For one, young-looking girl, she was no different in staring at it, even if this time, she was sad to see it in its state as much as she was happy to know it still hung high above the world she was in. Because, at the very least, the moon she loved still happened to be there.

"Six months. Six months since they arrived in this world. Six months to settle down for a bit and enjoy the lovely peace while it lasted."

She sat on top of a cliff, legs kicking and dangling on the air, not caring for the danger for falling down, if there was ever the danger for that to her. Pink, waist-length hair that had their ends resting on the ground. A teal-colored dress, patterned with small white shapes of clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds, and filled circles. White noble-styled gloves caressed her arms, and black and teal-striped stockings for her feet, along with oceanic green-colored kids shoes fastened with belts.

"It seems like despite everything, they're all having fun. They love it here. Probably more so than the place they were in before."

She would not show herself to her adversaries so easily. She still needed to have fun in this world before they would start having fun. But they would not make their move so soon, not until their plans would be firm and set, thus she had all the time in the world to spread love and happiness... for now. And then maybe she would ruin those plans once thought to be firm and set. But love and happiness were her first priority.

After all, love is not the kind of thing so easily understood without her guidance to it.

She smiled, pink-colored irises glancing to the moon once more.

"As love is my destiny, so will I share it with those who I care about."

* * *

 **Must... stop... multiple... story... shenanigans...**

 **Also ASG needs more love yo. And Dragon: Marked for Death while we're at it...**


End file.
